{"id":470,"date":"2012-05-22T23:54:46","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T03:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=470"},"modified":"2012-06-07T12:02:13","modified_gmt":"2012-06-07T16:02:13","slug":"government-student-power-struggle-expands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/government-student-power-struggle-expands\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Student Power Struggle Expands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Link to photo of May 22 protest <\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier today, 200,000 people marched illegally in downtown Montreal to mark the hundredth day in student protests against the Quebec Government.<\/p>\n

The average age of today\u2019s protesters increased in comparison to the first 99 days. Seniors, families, labourers, and anyone else who considers civil rights important have joined the students in their power struggle against the government.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about time.<\/p>\n

Quebec citizens are finally protesting in favour of a free and democratic society instead of allowing our government to continue passing laws that exert undue control over students with no obvious improvement in the system.<\/p>\n

The trend continues with Bill 78, which was proposed, debated and passed in Quebec\u2019s National Assembly last Friday. Known as \u201can act to enable permit students to receive instruction from the postsecondary establishments they attend;\u201d it should be called \u201can act to control student associations we don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill 78 tries to meet the needs of everyone, except striking students and their parents. College administrators, contracts with teachers, students who want to attend classes, businesses that need summer employees, businesses in strike-heavy city centres, the government curriculum; all these issues were taken into consideration.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never attended school in this province, but since I moved here in 1993, I\u2019ve learned that education is both cultural and political in Quebec.<\/p>\n

In the last few years, however, there have also been a great many public discussions about the high rates of unemployment among Quebec students and a particularly high drop-out rate among Francophone boys. L. Jacques Menard, the chair of the Action Group on Student Retention and Success and then President of BMO Financial Group summarized the concerns in his 2009 report, \u201cKnowledge is Power:\u201d<\/p>\n

In Quebec, however, our best efforts are falling short. Despite all the resources devoted to promoting student retention, our education system lets nearly one in three students fall through the cracks: 30%1 of our youth celebrate their 20th<\/sup> birthday without a high school or vocational diploma. Beyond the human tragedies that loom over dropouts and their families for their entire lives, imagine the disaster in store for a province where barely two working-aged people will have to support five people age 65 or over. That is what awaits us in Quebec just two decades down the road.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite these signs of a failing system, the state uses a heavy hand to determine how education is doled out to students.<\/p>\n

Everything is regulated by the government, from the number of hours of instruction a student must have in a day, week and year to what students at each level can study. The curriculum at every level is so full, both of my children get super stressed every April to finish everything before the end of the year. Yet there is no room for music lessons, a healthy dose of physical education or anything else parents and students want. Government talk about treating students as important clients of schools never seems to extend to the \u201ccustomer is always right\u201d philosophy.<\/p>\n

No matter what party controls government, ministers seem to think that passing laws about how education is delivered can fix the most recent societal ills.<\/p>\n

Concerns about whether the laws can actually be reasonable enacted don\u2019t seem to count, whether those concerns are expressed by teachers, parents, students or other parties, including most recently the police.<\/p>\n

Problems over the years have been rampant. Years ago, the Parti Quebecois changed everything about how teachers deliver lessons in a complicated series of regulations known jointly as \u201cthe reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reform wasn\u2019t even fully rolled out to all the grades when the Liberals got in. Still, ministers stopped talking about it and began passing other types of legislation about how education could be improved instead.<\/p>\n

The most undemocratic law prior to Bill 78 extended the terms of school board commissioners for two years without an election. The idea was that school board elections could occur at the same time as municipal elections.<\/p>\n

Last year, the government passed a law determining how report cards should be filled out. This year, prior to the strike, we were all discussing English Immersion for Grade 6 students in French schools. All these proposals were roundly criticized by the teacher unions and administrative representatives, but for the most part, schools implemented them and students simply buckled down and studied harder.<\/p>\n

They woke up when the government mentioned higher tuition fees.<\/p>\n

None of this was necessary. Instead of using the student protests as a ready-made election campaign, Jean Charest could have declared a moratorium on tuition fees for a few more months until he could call the election he wants. Instead of bragging that they didn\u2019t back down before students voted on a deal that might have made colleges and universities more accountable, ministers could have kept their mouths shut.<\/p>\n

Instead, they proposed Bill 78, a bill with a section about \u201cpeace, order and public security\u201d that hints at Canada\u2019s historic preoccupation with \u201cpeace, order and good government.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be writing more about that tomorrow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Link to photo of May 22 protest Earlier today, 200,000 people marched illegally in downtown Montreal to mark the hundredth day in student protests against the Quebec Government. The average age of today\u2019s protesters increased in comparison to the first 99 days. Seniors, families, labourers, and anyone else who considers civil rights important have joined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quebec","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-7A","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":482,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/living-in-pandemonium\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":0},"title":"Living in Pandemonium","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"May 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While tending the garden at my Rosemont-based church last night at 8 p.m., I got to hear the casserole demonstrations first-hand. The clanging of various pots went on for about half an hour or so before it stopped. I heard about the idea of protesting by banging on pots between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Island Report"","block_context":{"text":"Island Report","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/island-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":476,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/what-about-good-government\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":1},"title":"What about Good Government?","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"May 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Many commentators have asked \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong with Bill 78?\u201d My answer: Division III: the entire section about \u201cpeace, order and public security.\u201d It reads: A person, a body or a group that is the organizer of a demonstration involving 50 people or more to take place in a venue accessible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics That Matter"","block_context":{"text":"Politics That Matter","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/cultural-identity\/politics-that-matter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":976,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/violence-no-way-to-protest\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":2},"title":"Violence No Way to Protest","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"September 5, 2012","format":"quote","excerpt":"According to the Globe and Mail: A historic Quebec election ended in tragedy when a gunman killed one person and wounded another after trying to start a fire at the Montreal venue where Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Pauline Marois was celebrating her party\u2019s return to power on a minority mandate. Police\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics That Matter"","block_context":{"text":"Politics That Matter","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/cultural-identity\/politics-that-matter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":686,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/montreal-protest-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":3},"title":"Montreal Protest History","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"July 13, 2012","format":"video","excerpt":"Check out this great video about the Maple Spring.","rel":"","context":"In "Quebec"","block_context":{"text":"Quebec","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/quebec\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18499,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/quebec-genealogical-esociety\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":4},"title":"Qu\u00e9bec Genealogical eSociety: A New Type of Family Research Society","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"February 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I just joined the\u00a0Qu\u00e9bec Genealogical eSociety\u00a0for\u00a0$45 Cdn. Johanne Gervais, a professional genealogist who is passionate about researching Quebec records, founded this online research society last month. It operates in both English and French. In addition to participating in webinars, the membership will give me access to two important Quebec databases:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genealogy Ensemble"","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy Ensemble","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/history-worth-remembering\/genealogy-ensemble-history-worth-remembering\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/QuebecGenealogyesocietylogo.jpg?fit=825%2C366&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/QuebecGenealogyesocietylogo.jpg?fit=825%2C366&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/QuebecGenealogyesocietylogo.jpg?fit=825%2C366&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/QuebecGenealogyesocietylogo.jpg?fit=825%2C366&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21880,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/researching-quebec-when-church-and-state-were-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":5},"title":"Researching Quebec when Church and State were one","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"August 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"If you drive into Montreal from the Laurentians on a sunny day, you'll see a wonderful skyline, complete with a church spire as the tallest building for miles around. Such views are still typical throughout Quebec, although that's likely to change as the iconic buildings get torn down to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genealogy Ensemble"","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy Ensemble","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/history-worth-remembering\/genealogy-ensemble-history-worth-remembering\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"aerial view of city during sunset","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-3591325.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-3591325.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-3591325.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-3591325.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-3591325.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}